In Kuta, Bali I saw a restaurant, serving different kinds of rice, with the tag line “When you’re all noodled out!”. Sometimes when you’re backpacking through southeast Asia, you get really “noodled out”. Tired of noodles, curries and the rest of the exotic, exciting food you usually love.
After a month or so on the road, my wife, our sons and I reached Ubud, Bali. A beautiful town in the middle of the island of Bali. Most of the luxurious spas on the island are built here because of the beauty here. But even here you get noodled out sometimes.

One of those days, when we we’re walking down the street in downtown Ubud, we came to a café. Or was it a spa? We weren’t really sure so we had to check it out. It turned out that it really was a café and we just had to try it. The personnel immidiately showed up and started to play with the children and Rebecka and I relaxed in a sofa in the spacious dining area. We we’re served refreshing towels, lemon juice and peanut crackers before asked if we would like something to eat or drink or just relax. Nice!

We looked at the menu and I was taken away. No noodles, no rice, no curries. But a tempting lemongrass parfait with pineapple salsa! And a double espresso to go with that! I hadn’t had a proper coffee in days - or was it weeks?

We spent the better part of the afternoon there, trying out the good stuff on the menu, drinking strange avocado and chocolate drinks, watching the kids play with the staff, enjoying the funny architecture (cigar smoking gorillas?) and even the bathroom with a small river with fish in it.

Sometimes you just need something different, a moment of tranquility, a second to catch your breath, to be ready for another day of excitement - no matter if it’s in Bali, Stockholm or Manchester.